Martin and his friend Kathrin find their youth abruptly ended in March 1920, when their village is drawn into the events surrounding the reactionary Kapp Putsch. Martin accidently stumbles upon weapons that the landowner had stockpiled for the reactionary forces, and he brings them to the workers in the city. When the villagers organize a strike against the putsch, soldiers try to suppress the residents. Kathrin and Martin manage to get to the city for help, but then Martin is arrested.